I think I am not going to win the lunch battle. 🙂 It may be too soon to say for sure, but when Abigail comes home on the fifth day of school saying “Mom, you made me miss pizza day,” the signs are not good. Couple that with a bit of something different in her lunches than normal, and I fear I am not winning the battle. While she hasn’t been a fan of either of the lunches I have to post today, she is a fan of fresh fruits and vegetables- something she doesn’t get much with school lunch. So as long as I keep those up, she may continue with the from home lunches.
I had actually decided to not post these lunches, because Abigail didn’t care for them. However, I thought they were just fine, and maybe if your child is open to a little variance, then these might be lunches for you.
Here to the left we have last Friday’s lunch. In the front are fresh sliced strawberries (always a hit), some puffy-corn things, and behind those are some homemade mini sugar cookies- a requirement for the first week of school. But what I thought stood out here is the sandwich. Made on white bread, it’s got peanut butter on one slice, lightly sweetened cream cheese on the other slice, and sliced Paula Red apples in between. I had a sandwich very similar to this at a PBLoco near us this summer, and I swear it was the best PB sandwich I ever had. This sandwich was also delicious, as I made one for myself too, but in Abigail’s words: “you should not have packed that sandwich.”
Here to the right is another lunch that I’m baffled about. 
One of Abigail’s favorite sandwiches is ham and cheese. So I thought I’d make one on pita bread. We all like pita bread, but usually Abigail eats it plain along with some Greek food, or cut up and toasted into chips. Apparently she doesn’t like it as a sandwich bread, because she took a few bites but told me “Mommy, you should not have packed pita bread.” Accompanying the pita bread are a pair of mini chocolate cupcakes, some pretzels, and in the container on the top is some fresh green beans and red bell pepper strips with Ranch dressing for dipping. She loves green beans and was very excited to find them in her lunch- even asking for more for an after school snack.
The surprise hits this year so far have been the tomato soup and grilled cheese and the macaroni and cheese. Both were packed in her thermos- I was really surprised about grilled cheese. That’s one of those things that are better still warm, but she ate the sandwich, dunking happily into the tomato soup with each bite. The macaroni and cheese was homemade, coupled with one of the first good-looking oranges we’ve seen in a while, she had a great lunch that day. Today’s sandwich is a plain ham and cheese, a sliced kiwi, red bell pepper, carrots, and more mini cupcakes.
And finally today, I have to share a link that someone shared with me over on Kids Cuisine for Lunch In A Box: Building A Better Bento. This site is amazing! So many ideas for lunches for kids and adults alike, I am totally inspired by the site, and am now on a quest to keep my eyes peeled for more lunch kits. It seems that different shapes of bento kits would each have a different purpose, so I’ll be keeping my eyes open while running around. It seems Biggie finds a lot of her kits in unusual places, like the Dollar Tree.
And if lunch isn’t your thing today, I’m planning a week of breakfasts coming up. I spend so much time focusing on dinner meals, desserts, snacks, and the occasional lunch, that I never talk about breakfast, so coming up, (dates yet to be determined) there will be lots of breakfast going on around here. But in the meantime check out today’s article on Kids Cuisine for a really easy baked oatmeal that everyone will love.
I always loved school hot lunch when we were able to have it. My favorite was french toast sticks, followed closely by pizza. Now I look at the pizza they serve and wonder what I was thinking! =)
By the way, I let you “tag” me and posted on my site…
I would love to have you come pack lunch for me, both options sound delicious. Hopefully it’s just a stage and she’ll get through the desire for pizza lunch quickly.
Rachel I loved those french toast sticks too- with the blueberry sauce. On french toast stick day I almost always bought a lunch ticket with my babysitting money. I think that was the only lunch I “loved”.
Robyn, I don’t think they’d ship very well. 🙂 But I do have a pizza trick up my sleeve for Monday. We’ll see if it works.
Erika . . . it is so good to see this post! I give you big kudos for putting so much effort into making Abigail’s lunches appealing and nutritious. The pizza may have won one battle, but YOU’re winning overall.
Thanks Lia. It IS a work in progress, but I do agree that I am winning the nutrition battle. She’s also turning into a more adventurous eater- hooray for that!
hi erika, thanks for the link to the bento lunch. now that my son goes to grade K i too have to think about what to pack for his lunch. he eats almost anything so it’s so hard, but still i need to keep creative 🙂
Eliza, it’s fun to be creative with the lunches. That bento site really has me keeping my eyes open for new lunchbox like things so I can even have variety with the packaging. I found Target has a fairly decent selection.